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ARLINGTON, TX — The Dallas Wings have endured a difficult season. The Wings are clearly rebuilding, and their future is bright with rookies such as Paige Bueckers and Aziaha James on the roster. However, one specific element of the game Dallas has struggled with is fairly surprising. The Wings have been unable to consistently make layups.
Missing a layup while drawing contact is one thing. Dallas, however, has missed open looks around the basket at times. Head coach Chris Koclanes shared an honest assessment of the situation before Sunday's game against the Las Vegas Aces.
“You demand it (making layups) of them,” Koclanes told reporters. “You talk about, sometimes it's you're thinking contact or you're seeking contact rather than thinking about just making the shot. So, I think that's it sometimes, too. Just tell them, ‘chin through the square. Go make the shot. Don't worry about the contact coming.'
“You try to give them little cues here that might be able to just focus their attention slightly and allow them to finish. But at the end of the day, we're pros and we've gotta go finish around the rim.”
The Wings' layup struggles are alarming. It's rare for a professional basketball team to miss open layups. DiJonai Carrington said it's something the Wings simply need to be better at.
“We just gotta focus on it. It's not really a difficult conversation,” Carrington told reporters before Sunday's game. “Got to make them, got to focus on finishing.”
What's behind the team's struggles around the rim? Is there any underlying cause or is it just a matter of not getting the job done?
“I couldn't tell ya, lack of focus maybe,” Haley Jones said Sunday. “No, I wouldn't say lack of focus… I know I missed a few in the last game that I feel like I don't usually miss. I think it could just be rushing it. Like, we're making the right reads around the rim, I think. I think just rushing it.”
How can the Wings work on improving their layup consistency?
“I think you just have to make a game, like, when we're doing little wide open layup drills, obviously it's easy,” Jones added. “And then you get in the game, it's full speed, the shot-blockers around you, you're trying to get it off quick. So I think it's just, I don't know, doing it more at game pace.”
The Aces defeated the Wings by a final score of 106-80 Sunday. Dallas shot just 38 percent (30-79) from the field in the contest. The shot chart (via the WNBA) tells the story as the Wings continued to miss too many looks from inside the paint. Their three-point shooting was abysmal as well, however.
Grace Berger recently signed a second seven-day contract with the Wings. She hasn't been around the team for the whole season, but she is optimistic that Dallas can fix the layup concerns.
“At the end of the day, we're getting great looks,” Berger said Sunday. “We're getting downhill, getting the shots we want. They're just not falling, I think. We just got to keep doing it. They're gonna start falling, our confidence is gonna go up.
“They're great shots, obviously right at the rim. We just gotta finish them, and we will. We watch film, we follow them. We're all in the gym working every single day, so they're going to start going in for us.”
The Wings will try to improve their efficiency in the paint on Monday against the New York Liberty in the second of a back-to-back.
